Starting with black cardstock, I used Prima Clear Gesso onto my Prima brick stencil, which took a lot of patience in drying time, but was worth it after covering both pages. Once dry, I went over the bricks with Fired Brick Distress Stain twice. Then I applied my new Ranger Brick Antiquities embossing powder over the bricks, and LOVE the results!

The wood scraps are from the Kaisercraft BaseCoat 12 X 12 Collection; the ribbon, button, and notebook paper, are from Bo Bunny's Pop Quiz I Want It All Bundle; and all of the chalk embellies are a mix of My Mind's Eye Chalk Studio 2 Sticker Icons, Decorative Alphabet, which I used to spell STOP, Tags, Sticker Labels, Chipboard Elements, and Sleigh Bells Ring I Want It All Bundle.

I made the banner from chalk washi tape, and drew white lines around the pieces with a white Puffy Pen, adding the alpha stickers to spell JERKY. I also used the same pen to outline the black chalkboard paper that I used behind the photo of my husband.

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

I'm so excited and honored to be guest designing for Stamps and Stencils, one of my new favorite blogs that I just discovered a few months ago! Thanks to Sue and the rest of the talented team for choosing the transformed almond can that I made for May's Trash to Treasure challenge!

This month's challenge is "Floral Frenzy," and if you head to their blog you can see all of the beautiful and inspiring projects from the design team, and enter your own floral creation. I had so much fun making this mixed media piece from watercolor paper, Lindy's Stamp Gang Magicals and Sprays, black gesso, and of course my stamps and stencils!

If you want to see a step-by-step tutorial on how I made the background and flowers, please visit the Stamps and Stencils blog here.. Thanks so much for your visit!

The flowers were cut with my Cricut Expression, using flower #3 from the Mother's Day Bouquet cartridge. I cut two at 1" and one at 3/4" for the center bud out of white cardstock. Then I colored them with my sprays, scrunched them up while wet, and glued them together once they were dry. I also used some sprays to deepen the colors of my fibers, which originally were a pale yellow and purple. I love how easy it is to custom make my own colors with Lindy's Stamp Gang sprays, and the beautiful shimmer that it has!

Friday, June 3, 2016

Happy National Doughnut Day! National Doughnut Day was created by the Salvation Army in 1938 to honor the women who served doughnuts to soldiers in World War I, as comfort food to help boost morale. The doughnuts were often cooked in oil inside the metal helmets of American soldiers. American infantrymen were then commonly called "doughboys", which coincidentally is the name of my favorite doughnut shop here in Reno. I know a lot of doughnut shops will be giving out free doughnuts today, so take advantage and enjoy.

From the Noteworthy pack I took out the tag, small pink doughnut, and green banner, inking the edges of the tag with Distress Inks (Picked Raspberry and Ripe Persimmon). Then I used the sticker alphas that come in the 12 X 12 Collection Pack to spell ENJOY, and fussy cut the blue and green doughnuts from the back of the "smile" paper. I backed the tag with the teal paper that comes in the Ephemera, and inked the edges with Picket Fence Distress Ink. Then I hand-stitched the black zigzag, and tied it off with the orange ribbon, adding it to my box after wrapping it in the pink ribbon, which both come in the Ephemera. Very quick and easy to do!